Recipes

Many thanks to the Urban Grains community for sharing these! Submit yours as an email to urbangrains@gmail.com and I’ll add it to this page.

Cookbook recommendations and web resources:

The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book:  A guide to whole-grain bread making, by Robertson, Flinders and Godfrey (Thanks Emily!)

Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Bread, by Peter Reinhart

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, by Francois and Hertzberg

Bread Matters, by Andrew Whitley (Ayla’s fave)

Dan Lepard’s online forums (Thanks GrainGod!)

The Village Baker, by Joe Ortiz (thanks to James Johnstone!)

Beard on Bread, by James Beard (Thanks Ingrid!)

King Arthur Flour website (Thanks Ingrid!)

Sullivan Street Bakery’s no-knead recipe (Thanks Cory and Ingrid!)

The Fresh Loaf – website (Thanks Lillian!)

Tassajara Bread Book, by Edward Espe Brown (Thanks to Lillian, who also recommends cutting salt in half in the basic bread recipe found here.)

Bread Science, by Emily Buehler (Thanks Lillian!)

The Art of Handmade Bread, by Dan Lepard (Thanks Lillian!)

Recipes

From David Griffiths

Here’s the CI no-knead whole-wheat recipe:

Makes 1 large round loaf. Published January 1, 2008. From Cook’s Illustrated.

An enameled cast-iron Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid yields best results, but the recipe also works in a regular cast-iron Dutch oven or heavy stockpot. (See the related information in “High-Heat Baking in a Dutch Oven” for information on converting Dutch oven handles to work safely in a hot oven.) Use a mild-flavored lager, such as Budweiser (mild non-alcoholic lager also works). The bread is best eaten the day it is baked but can be wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in a cool, dry place for up to 2 days.

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces), plus additional for dusting work surface
1 cup whole wheat flour (5 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water (7 ounces), at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons mild-flavored lager (3 ounces)
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Instructions

1. Whisk flours, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Stir honey into water, then add water, beer, and vinegar to the dry ingredients. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.

2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.

3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

From Jen Arbo:

Take:
2 c your favorite flour
1 t salt
1 T sugar (I sometimes use honey)
2 1/2 t quick rise yeast

BLEND.

Then add:
2 T melted butter (like, liquid)
1 c of the hottest tap water you can muster
1 more c of your favorite flour.

Knead. Or, in my case, let KitchenAid do its thing for a few minutes, until all little bits are picked up and the mass is one big ball.

Turn out into oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise about an hour.

Then punch down and form into a loaf and put in your loaf pan, and reuse plastic wrap and cover again, and let rise another hour ish. Remove plastic wrap, fire in preheated oven.

I use a glass loaf pan, so I bake at a slightly lower temperature and a slightly shorter time that others might. Bake at about 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce to 325-350 ish for 20 more minutes.

remove from oven and consume! The loaf is “done” if it sounds hollow on the bottom when tapped. You can also add stuff like ground flax seed or wheat germ or oat bran as your heart desires. I also once added 1 c raisins and a T of cinnamon and it was delish.

From John Harris:

2 c your favorite flour
1 t salt
1 T sugar (I sometimes use honey)
2 1/2 t quick rise yeast

BLEND.

Then add:
2 T melted butter (like, liquid)[I use 1/3 cup]
1 c of the hottest tap water you can muster
[and I add 2 tbsp of lemon juice, la secret ingredient]
1 more c of your favorite flour.

Another tip for those who don’t have a food processor with a dough hook is in the kneading: don’t go hard. Take your time, be firm but gentle. Somehow works better.

Lastly, on the crust issue, refer to Martin Bittman’s no knead recipe. Heat a baking container with a lid to over temp before unloading your raised loaf. Pop in your loaf, cover (remember your oven mitts) and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover for the last 10 or 15 minutes. Pro bakers use steam in the oven for the same effect.
Bread on!

From Kirby Johnstone:

GRIND 2 CUPS OF WHEAT
blend 1/2 cup of flax seeds in 2 1/2 cups of water.
mix together,add 1 tsp of yeast and 1 tbs of honey.
wait 24 hours
GRIND 2 MORE CUPS OF WHEAT
add 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tbs of olive oil.
mix in sufficient freshly ground wheat flour to make dough.
Kneed briefly.
Let rise.
bake 1 1/4 hours at 350.

I have fine tuned this recipe over the last 20+ years and it makes an excellent bread.